French companies that come to Mexico do so to stay, said the head of the Economic Service of the French Embassy.
Xavier de Bellefon, president of the Franco-Mexican Chamber of Commerce and Industry, reported that there is interest from French companies to relocate some of their operations from the United States to Mexico, so the country should take advantage of this economic moment.
“Mexico has an incredible role and opportunity to seek more growth and acceleration for companies that need the location, logistics and everything it brings,” said the business representative.
The French community saw that Mexico is close to markets as important as the United States and Canada, commented the businessmen at the forum “Challenges and opportunities of nearshoring”, organized by the CCI France Mexico.
From January to September 2022, French companies invested in Mexico more than 757.6 million dollars, which represents an increase of 59.39% over the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Economy (SE).
The issue of nearshoring has become critical for many companies in their strategic decisions, due to many changes in the world such as political decisions and political tensions, De Bellefon said.
Companies faced the pandemic and in the last 25 years they have gone from globalization and optimization of value chains worldwide to a reality that “proposes how companies shorten and are a little closer to our customers,” said the president of the ICC.
He added that nearshoring has become one of the most strategic issues for many industry groups and advisors.
“French companies choose Mexico to invest in the long term, if they arrive it is to stay and this is explained because Mexico is a country of opportunities and our companies are aware of it,” said Alexis Loyer, head of the Economic Service of the Embassy of France in Mexico.
Mexico has 12 free trade agreements with 46 countries, as well as access to two oceans and the economies of North and South America, highlighted the French diplomat.
On the other hand, the French economic and commercial ecosystem is vast, since there are more than 500 French subsidiaries with operations in Mexico, commented the representative of the French government.
The French subsidiaries generate more than 150,000 direct jobs and more than 700,000 indirect ones, and there is at least one French company in each of the states of the Mexican Republic, he added.
From the embassy, he affirmed, the opportunity of nearshoring for Mexico and for our companies to bring their value chains closer together has been reviewed.
Mexico has geography, commercial openness, manufacturing tradition and human capital, which are strategic factors in the new world panorama, Loyer mentioned.
Source: Forbes